1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical conductor assemblies, and, more particularly, to electrical bus bars and a method for making electrical bus bars.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical conductors for use in the delivery of power and signals to circuit components are known in the art as bus bars. Bus bars are electrically conductive, and are commonly made of copper. Bars of copper are often shaped by a forming die to cut and to form the copper into a shaped bus bar. Bus bars can include connection points, such as spade connectors made with parts of the bus bar that are cut and shaped to form points of interconnection. The shaping of bus bars to include interconnection points eliminates the need for a terminal or interface lug to be connected to the bus bar for the transfer of power from the bus bar to another circuit component or an additional bus bar.
Bus bars that have interconnections that extend significantly from the main body of the bus bar create problems associated with scrap in the manufacture of the formed bus bar. For example, if a bus bar is being made having a length of 4 feet, and has a main body width of 1 inch the blank needed to form the bus bar will need to be 4 feet long by an inch plus the length of the circuit interconnections that would extend therebeyond for the width. So if one interconnection extends 2 inches from the edge of the finished bus bar in one direction and a ½ inch from the other side of the bus bar then a blank 3½ inches wide must be utilized to cut the 1 inch body with extensions extending two inches on one side and a ½ inch on the other. Whether there are numerous 2 inch extensions or merely one, the blank area required to stamp out the bus bar would remain at 3½ inches, thereby potentially creating considerable waste.
What is needed in the art is a method to produce a bus bar with minimal scrap utilized in the process of forming the final desired shape.